Scott Snyder Calls An Audible On ZERO YEAR: Batman #28 To Be An ETERNAL Spoiler Issue

by Cody "The Thorverine" Ferrell

Scott Snyder took to Twitter to reveal a change in plans for the Batman Zero Year schedule. Issue #28, which marks the halfway point of the gigantic story retelling Batman‘s origins in the New 52, will be pushed back a month to allow Greg Capullo time to draw what has now become an expanded issue. There aren’t any problems and Capullo is on top of everything, but the issue became much larger than originally intended. To make that possible and not cut out any part of the story, what was to be issue #28 will now be #29. The 28th issue will now be a special “spoiler issue” that skips ahead sixth months of the current DC timeline to tease some things coming up in Gotham in 2014 with the Batman Eternal weekly series. Snyder will write the issue with James Tynion and Dustin Nguyen handling art. Snyder explained the shake-up on Twitter and even teased a character piece from Nguyen.

Snyder explains that the break-up of Zero Year will allow it to be bigger and stronger, but the spoiler issue will serve as a special thank you to all the fans who have shown the dynamic duo love on the main series. You can read Snyder‘s comments in full below. He’s a talker, but it explains what’s happening in the world of Batman:

A bat-announcement!

But first, a thank you to guys for all the backing on ZY from the whole team. I mean it. This is a Batman origin – nothing more sacred or stressful or thrilling to do. We talk about it a lot, me and Greg and co. – how wrong this all could have gone – and to have you guys in our corner this way… just, thank you. This story is something we’re putting our all into, and we can’t tell you how much the support means to us.

So to the news (and it’s good news, don’t worry!): as I was finishing Batman #28 last month, I started to feel that the issue seemed very cramped. There are a lot of big moments in it – super storms raging, bat-vehicles whirling – and I was compressing every one into a multi-panel page.

Anyway, I started thinking that maybe we could extend the issue, do something larger – not as large (or pricey) as #24 – we feel your pain – but still big enough to give Greg the space needed to make this issue feel epic on the page, views of the whole city as it shakes…

Still, to extend the issue would put pressure on Greg, and with an issue that has key crime alley scenes and core moments… I didn’t want him to have ANY pressure. No one is as maniacal about staying way ahead of his deadlines than brother Greg is and I just thought it’d be cruel to saddle him with extra pages, esp. now, with the holidays. Believe me, if I gave Greg extra pages, he’d finish them ahead of time, no problem, but why put extra work on my partner – and my friend – for being ahead?

Then I started thinking about all the crazy plans we have in BATMAN, and in BATMAN ETERNAL (the weekly), for Gotham of 2014, and I figured: what if, as a thank you to you guys for all the support, we took a month off from ZY right at the halfway point, and instead did a special issue that showed you what’s coming up in the world of Batman AFTER ZY? Not an issue that cuts to the present, but one that actually shows you a glimpse of the FUTURE of Batman – Gotham circa summer 2014?

So I got to talking with the other Gotham writers, and we agreed that with all the crazy stuff that’s going to happen in 2014 – and my goal above all in 2014 is to keep things daring and fun – it’d be a thrill to do a total spoiler issue. A stand-alone issue that takes place in the near future and reveals all sorts of massive surprises coming to Gotham in the spring and summer of 2014.

After getting the ok from editorial on the issue, I approached pal Dustin Nguyen about drawing it, told him the crazy stuff in it, and he signed on, to my immense gratitude.

So (distilled from all my wordiness) our NEWS IS: the current BATMAN #28 (the finale of Zero Year – Dark City) will now be BATMAN #29. And a new Batman #28 will come out in its place by me, James Tynion and Dustin Nguyen – a special thank you issue that takes place six months in the future from the present continuity of the DCU, and gives you all sorts of peeks into the craziness planned for 2014.

And believe me, the issue will have a lot of surprises. After all the support you’ve shown us on Batman – and on ZY especially – we owe you BIG. Big like a debt we can never, ever repay, big. But with this issue, we’ll try very hard to fill the pages with thank you spoilers.

Thank you guys from the bottoms of our black, twisted hearts.

You are Gotham, always.

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I'm a comic book and movie nerd who loves to share news I find interesting and hope you do as well. I'm a big Doctor Who fan and sci-fi in general. My favorite comic characters you ask? Well Thor, Wolverine, and Daredevil.

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